h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Haven't heard from you in a long time. How are things going?

Hello TUMP

Looks like you haven't been back to see that h2g2 is back, but when you do, I hope to exchange hope again. I just started a new position as a research fellow and I've lots more to wonder about now. Maybe by the time you discover "It's Alive!" I will have managed to get my front page updated to reflect the changes in my life.

See you soon, I hope!

Howdy, Zmrzlina! So good to hear from you once more! My old identity is dead as a result of a lost password. But I've been resurrected, though, under a new name and in a new place, so please drop in! And by the way I've been checking on h2g2 every blithering day, and this is the first time I've seen any signs of life again. Maybe it works differently from one country to another, though I can't imagine how or why.

My goodness! You have your work cut out for you in resurrecting your former page. I am not at all sure old posts will ever be available again, which is a shame, but I suppose moderating the thousands and thousands of individual past posts would be impossible. I don't really like the "clean slate" look of my homepage, though. I was kinda attached to some of the old journal entries, too. Ah well...such is progress I suppose.

Hi!!! Well, I'm going to see what I can do. From now on I'm saving everything good that I write on my hard disk here at home. I'm also going to be writing some web pages somewhere else so I can put in all my pictures. I will link all of that to my new h2g2 site. Well, ya win some, ya lose some. We'll just have to write lots of new entries, I guess! Anyways, I feel like I'm alive again, I'm so happy to be back! Now I just have to find all my lost friends again.

Cheers!
The Case M2

I've decided to stick with journal entries and commenting on other's guide and journal entries. I never did feel comfortable with the whole guide writing, anyway. I do like the journals. Sometimes it helps to just type out a rant or blue funk and then be done with it.

I'm happy h2g2 is back, too. And that I will soon have Internet connection at work so I can follow postings a bit easier.

Hello! Yes, it's nice to write Journal entries and respond to what other people write. But your guide entries were also nice, I liked reading them. This guide entry writing business, maybe the best approach is to not think about writing entries for the sake of having them go into the Edited Guide, but just writing them the way you want to in order to make whatever point you want to make. "Unofficial" Guide entries can be anything whatsoever. I used to have lots of those on my old page. What I like about Guide entries is that they are somewhat more permanent than other kinds of entries, and also, you can add pictures to them. I had lots of pictures in my "unofficial" Guide entries, because I wasn't allowed to have them in the entries I sent for editing. But that didn't matter. The unofficial entries were seen by many people, I got many responses. The way I see it these entries are just as much a part of the Guide, and in these entries you get people in their true element, with all their personal quirks, creativity and weird ideas and so on.

Also such onofficial entries can be stuffed with off-site links. Now that we aren't allowed to have links in fora in fact it will be necessary to write special "link" entries and then in the fora post a link to those entries to enable people to visit those links. The way I see it, this type of entry is going to become even more important from now on, if we want the Guide to work at its optimum.

I haven't really started writing new entries yet. This site hasn't really "come to life" yet, and I too am still finding my feet. At this point I am getting exasperated by the moderation. I'm trying to have conversations, and the moderators keep removing the replies of people to my postings so I don't have the faintest idea what they said to me. This makes communication rather difficult and gives rise to paranoia. And these postings they seem to be removing for rather trivial reasons. Hmmm, what are we gonna do?

Anyways, all the best, talk again!

The Case

I used to think the Unofficial Guide Entries were the way to go, too, but I have mixed emotions. I know the BBC terms say they do not own the entries and we can publish them anywhere else, but, if I wanted to publish something I wrote here, or even just use a germ of an idea, I think lots of publications would object to the information being available here. The BBC won't pull an entry if you do want to use it elsewhere. Even if you delete it, it still stays in the system and is searchable. At least that how it was. I don't know if that is how it will stay. And I don't know how strongly I feel about the whole thing. It is just a nagging concern.

The moderation is a bit weird. Reminds me of my days on AOL when *I* was a moderator. I did it for three years. I think I was good at it, but on AOL, the moderators are also part of the community and the hate mail and flaming got to me after awhile. I am not a fan of AOL, but since it is the first taste of Internet for lots of people, I really want to do my part in making sure they got onto the *real* Internet and not just AOL's intranet. Anyway...I think the * replacing letters is just plain silly. And eliminating URLs is overboard. I understand the reasoning, but I don't like it at all.

All in all, I think it is wonderful to have the site back. Like so many have said, the alternative to the changes was no site at all. And that would have been a great loss to many.

I actually didn't know that they still would have versions of our entries after we had removed them. Copyright is rather a bit of a problem because I too would probably want to publish some of the stuff I wrote here if I ever had the opportunity. And so would many other researchers. Make no mistake about it, there are some ambitious and talented folks around here, budding poets and even established authors. I am wondering if some of these new measures might not end up chasing away the best people we have. I don't want my brilliant work to be taken over and broadcast in desecrated form by the BBC without my getting a single cent (or rather, penny). I'll remain suspicious until I have seen proof that these guys are really ethical and considerate, at the moment I have a distrust of all huge corporations.

Maybe we need some massive worldwide educational efforts geared towards improving the quality of individual that dominates society, so that we won't have lots of jerks being nasty and confrontational on the internet or anywhere else, so that we won't need all these draconian measures designed to curb them as well as anyone else who gets in the way! What do you think?

I have been exploring and considering some alternatives to h2g2, but I still couldn't find any other web community site as nice as this one, House Rules or not. So, I will remain here on h2g2, again maybe not quite as active as I used to be; maybe things will get better. Let's hope!

Take Care!
The Case/Willem

Oh Willem! Don't take my word on the BBC rules regarding removing deleted entries. I only deleted one entry and I was chagrined to find it still came up on a search. That was pre-blackout, though. Maybe things have changed.

I am not altogether comfortable with claiming copyright since that is an issue that bothers me terribly. I don't like how the drug companies can copyright medicines, or agricultural organizations can seeds. The legalities are rather fuzzy in my head, but it just doesn't seem right. And I hate the whole trademark thing where a MNC like Coke comes down so hard on anyone who uses their name, even if not for profit.

Regarding nasty language... one of my favorite quotes is "Vulgarity is, in reality, nothing but a modern, chic, pert descendant of the goddess Dullness." --Edith Sitwell

Be well, Willem!

Hi again. What's with this beret-wearing business I see going on all around???

It says I have joined the Zaphodista. Go to A520769 to find out about this protest against house rules. I hesitated about joining because I know the "italics" are working very, very hard and are very, very stressed, but I really don't like the banning of URLs and foreign languages. I am not usually a joiner, but this issue is really bothering me. I know one alternative is no h2g2, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

Ah ha...I see that you found the entry already

Yeah, but I didn't see anything about berets - but I'll wear one from now on. I just hope the BBC can realise the immense potential of this site and come up with a creative solution.

The beret is a signature of revolution I am still wearing one, but I have been listening to a like-minded discussion posted by another researcher who would like to see some change in the house rules. Her "Brainstorming Board" is over at A527708. Option #3 is what has be dubbed "The Third Way."

I've seen that - I'll keep a watch on it! But I have to wonder how hard it is going to be to make the BBC 'see the light'.

Well, most people over here seem to have accepted moderation by now. I must be one of those most frequently moderated - in a number of forums I'm talking Afrikaans, and Danish. We're translating everything in English, and sometimes then they don't moderate it, but sometimes they do ... I must have been moderated about twenty times already since I've been back. On the 'old' h2g2 I was never moderated even once, and I do know that they did have a moderation policy back then!

Listen you must make a lot of use of the UCB please! We have no moderation there, we can include pictures, and it looks like you have a lot of them! Have you never been to Africa yet? If not, why not?